Legal Docket

The Los Angeles Times sought release of records from the California Commission on Police Officers Standards and Training regarding the appointment, promotion, and termination histories of various police officers. Trial court granted access to some of the requested information. Court of Appeal reversed it. The Los Angeles Times appealed. The ACLU Foundations of California filed an amicus brief in t... Read More

Must victims of discrimination affirmatively request and be denied equal treatment before they may sue under the Unruh Act or the Gender Tax Repeal Act? Does advertising a sex-based price discount violate the Unruh Act or the Gender Tax Repeal Act? Read More

Does compulsory testing and maintenance of DNA from persons who are arrested for felony offenses and persons with past convictions who are no longer supervised by the criminal justice system violate the Fourth Amendment and federal privacy rights? Read More

The issue in this case is whether the California Constitution allows the government to underwrite part of the cost of a religious school's borrowing money to construct facilities. The government issues tax-exempt bonds to nonprofit organizations, acting as a conduit between the organization and lender, so that the interest on the loan is not taxed. This allows the organization to borrow money at... Read More

Should a criminal defendant have the burden of proving that a prosecutor's peremptory challenges to all of the Native American jurors in the jury pool were "predominantly" based on race or is it enough to show that one of the reasons for the challenges was based on racial stereotypes? Read More

An appeal was filed to halt the execution of Donald Beardslee, arguing that one of the drugs used in the procedure, Pavulon, would paralyze and leave him unable to signal if he was in pain, violating Beardslee's Eighth Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The ACLU Foundation of Northern California and Death Penalty Focus filed an amicus brief arguing that the paralyzing dr... Read More

May the government block the donation of the Unabomber's writings to a university library to prevent the glorification of his crimes? Read More

Plaintiff Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund sued Governor Gray Davis (now Arnold Schwarzenegger) and other state officials for injunctive and declaratory relief seeking a determination that AB 205 was unlawfully enacted by the Legislature in violation of California Constitution, article II, section 10, subdivision (c), because it amends Proposition 22 but was not presented to the vot... Read More

Class action lawsuit to challenge the Transportation Security Administration's ("TSA's") administration and management of the "No-Fly List," a list circulated to commercial airlines and security personnel with instructions to detain and question any passenger whose name matches or is similar to one on the No-Fly List.The No-Fly List was implemented beginning in November 2001. Since then, it has re... Read More

In September 2003, President Bush signed the so-called “Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003,” the first federal criminal law banning abortion in the United States. This is one of three cases challenging that law. Read More

This case raises fundamental issues of freedom of expression in the creative arts.Literary artists and organizations supporting literary artists filed an Amicus brief contending that creative works such as a poem or painting cannot, on their face, constitute a true threat. Only the circumstances surrounding the communication of a poem or other creative work can transform it from protected expressi... Read More

This case challenged the threatened violation of the voting rights of thousands of California citizens, arising from the use of obsolete, unreliable, and discredited pre-scored punch card voting equipment in the election scheduled to take place on October 7, 2003 regarding the gubernatorial recall and the vote on Proposition 53 (Legislative Constitutional Amendment that would dedicate part of the ... Read More